What Was Planted
by Aradien
Summary: Time was re-written, but the seeds of what could have been persist through dimensions. For Carol Marcus, this means playing a dangerous game with Earth's most ingenious weapon of mass destruction.
1. Prologue

**What Was Planted**

Time was re-written, but the seeds of what could have been persist through dimensions. For Carol Marcus, this means playing a dangerous game with Earth's most ingenious weapon of mass destruction.

* * *

_-_ Prologue -

_"No other planet in this solar system spins as fast as Jupiter."_

She couldn't remember where she heard that simple fact, but it seemed beautifully relevant now, staring down at the gas giant through the space station's few windows. The planet was barely even a planet at all, she remembered vaguely. Most who were interested in astronomy knew that Jupiter was on the path of becoming a star, but somehow failed. Some say it was because it just wasn't big enough to get the fusion reaction going.

But she knew better. Jupiter was a planet because it didn't _want_ to be a star. It wanted moons and storms, ice and fire… it wanted to be unique in all the galaxy. The whole universe, even. And it _succeeded_.

Slow, even footsteps came from behind her. With a sigh of resignation, she turned to face the Admiral for what was to be a very uncomfortable meeting...

"Good evening, Carol."

Her eyes widened, and a scream would have echoed through the dark chambers of the station's underbelly if it wasn't for the hand that covered her lips with lightning speed.

"I'm afraid that your father never received the invitation for this little meeting. Fortunately," he whispered into her ear, the words dripping with venom. "I _did_."

Carol knew this was the end. The fear in her veins prevented her from sobbing, but the sense of impending doom made her heart beat painfully against her ribcage. It brought her no relief that the hand on her mouth moved to her waist because she had _seen _what those hands were capable of doing. He could rip the better part of her liver out without much effort, but she doubted he'd be so kind…

"I need you," she said breathily, keeping her eyes fixed on the Starfleet insignia on his charcoal uniform. "To let me explain."

"You think I came here to hear another fairy tale, my _dear_?" he rumbled, drawing her closer. "As much they comforted me during a brief imprisonment, I have no time for them now. Not after what was done to my family." His grip on her tightened, but she knew that there was no force on earth that would have stopped him from killing her on sight if he believed his family to be dead. There was a shadow of a doubt in his mind, and it was the one thing keeping Carol Marcus alive.

"We're all nothing but stories, Commander." She replied softly, gazing into azure eyes that were very different from her own. "I wouldn't be alive if mine weren't of interest to you."

He smiled at her then, and it was simultaneously that most terrifying and alluring sight she'd ever witnessed. With one hand tracing the contours of her face, he answered, "No… you would be a very lovely stain on an otherwise immaculate floor. I suppose I can guarantee your safety until you finish explaining _everything _ that you know."

She didn't mean to collapse to her knees, but the relief brought about by his words numbed her aching muscles. The danger was not completely gone, but the ebb and flow of adrenaline leaving her system made her head spin wildly.

"You've had your moment of weakness, cadet, and I feel the need to remind you that there is breath in your body merely because you need it to speak." Came the voice of the darkly dressed man, now sitting in a chair that was almost hidden in the obscurity.

Carol remained knelt on the floor, her hands folded gently across her lap. She expected her voice to shake when she began her story, but it emerged surprisingly clear.

"It began, Mr. Khan, with an invitation from someone you know _very _well…"

* * *

**Author's Note:** So I meant to add a new chapter, but this lovely little scene appeared on the Word document and I felt it belonged _before_ the chapter which I intended to be the first in this story. Sorry, but I hope you enjoy it. Sets the tone of the story a little better than what I had before.


	2. Chapter 1

**Author's Note**: Followers! I updated this story, but the new chapter is actually the Prologue. Chapter 2 should be in later this week.

* * *

- 1 -

Space is an abyss to most humans. All they see is cold and empty nothingness, wrapped within a shawl of enigma. Poets don't tend to write about the universe beyond Earth's atmosphere… flowers and beauty holds more interest than suffocating darkness.

But she didn't blame them. It was… _unusual_ to love the power of supernova more than the fiction of love. Maybe that was why her father brought her to the rings of Saturn. This was, after all, possibly the mostly beautiful planet in the entire solar system...

"_Carol_," her father snapped, pulling her from these thoughts and back into the uneasy silence of the dimly lit room.

Her eyes darted from the hem of her blue uniform to the eyes of one of Starfleet's most notorious Admirals. "I'm sorry." she replied hastily.

"Your mother had that same far-off look." he sighed, and it would have convinced anyone else that he was fondly remembering his wife. Carol knew it wasn't a compliment even before he added, "A severe handicap… even for a historian like her. For you, it's completely unacceptable."

She squirmed discreetly in her chair. The whimsical Marla McGivers had passed on very little of her personality to her daughter, but Carol made it a point to give her talent and passion respect where it was due. Unlike the particularly devious lung cancer had claimed her mother in a matter of days, the Admiral suffered from a disease that slowly ate away every shred of decency left within him. She tried to stall its progress by excelling in her studies, but hadn't made much progress.

Not until being invited here by none other than the Admiral himself.

"I have to say, I was surprised when I found out you were training to become a weapons specialist." He remarked. "Certain people made a point to tell me that you were probably the best the Academy had to offer."

This was it –the chance she'd been working for. _Praying _for.

"I thought that I could help you with your research." She said cautiously, studying his eyes for signs of anger. She wasn't supposed to know anything about her father's discreet dealings with scientists that promised him starships and weapons that most people could scarcely imagine. Until recently, she'd been at the vicious end of the rage that followed when they didn't deliver the tools of Armageddon to him.

"You have Marcus blood in you, that's for sure." He said with a wry grin. Probably the only one _not _in the long list of reactions she might have expected.

"So I can help you?" she pressed, doing a poor job in masking her excitement.

The sound of his seat being pushed back made her wince, though not nearly as much as the realization that he was now standing and moving towards her. "A few months ago, I came across someone who's making almost all my projects a reality. I promised him something in return for his promotion, but I get the feeling that he's doesn't trust me..."

Carol's lips twitched unconsciously. She'd witnessed this man break many vows… it was hard to imagine how many promises he'd broken outside of his family.

"Some of the details of his work are too technical for me to understand, so I essentially have a man who may or may not be loyal with his hands on some of the most dangerous equipment in the galaxy. I'm asking you this, Carol," His voice became low as he reached her side, kneeling so that their gazes were level. "Can you _ensure_ that my life's work is accomplished?"

No longer did she believe that fortune had favored her. In fact, Carol determined that she was suddenly in a very, _very_ bad situation.

"I can work alongside him and report on his progress." She offered, raising her eyebrows hopefully.

"That's not what I am asking." The Admiral nearly shouted, a nerve obviously tapped. "He's not an ordinary man that can be… _beguiled_ by a clever woman. Your task isn't to work with him; it's to keep him in line."

This wasn't what she wanted. She knew her way around a phaser and a photon torpedo, but this sort of psychological warfare was beyond her training. Rejecting her father's request was the only _reasonable_ solution.

But Carol turned to face him bodily. In a voice that was hollow of any sort of emotion, she answered, "I won't disappoint you."

"That's my girl." Beamed the Admiral, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder in a surprising display of affection. "I'll take you to meet him right now."

"I – I think it would be wiser if I go alone. Having my father escort me to this first meeting would send a weak impression. " She admitted, following him to the door.

After some internal debate, the Admiral agreed, "Take the elevator to Engineering Three and he'll be the only one with his hands on the missiles. Guards those things like a _dog_..."

Within the span of a few seconds, she was standing alone in the hallway, in no particular rush to meet the person that made the stoic Admiral anxious. While first impressions were of no small significance in her mission, the true reason behind sending him away was for the opportunity to think clearly. Her father's presence was a miasma of spiteful tension that she was happy to be rid of.

The elevator's descent was oddly soothing. Gaining a new-found sense of confidence, she stepped onto the Engineering floor and spotted her target with an electron beam welder and metallic mask. The missile that her father had referred to was barely more than an unpainted, hollow shell with several different compartments. The blueprints were pinned to column some feet away from where he was standing.

"Commander Harrison!" Carol yelled, doubting that her voice would reach him over the din of his equipment. Her eyes fell on the blueprints and, fascinated by their intricacy, she began processing the elaborate design. In her years at the Academy, she'd rarely come across weapon plans that made her mind this hungry. She didn't even notice the darkly dressed figure that hovered only inches behind her until he coughed, causing her to nearly leap out of her skin.

"I'm sorry – I was just…" she drifted off, noticing very quickly that he didn't care for her excuses. The Admiral had warned her of his skill, and emphatically stated _not_ to get caught off guard. But for a few seconds, she could only stare at the man with feelings that she couldn't quite describe.

Actually, she could describe them as… _inappropriate. _

"You called for me, Cadet?" he grumbled sternly.

_There is no way I'll be handed this opportunity_ _again_, she reminded herself. Calmly, she collected her insecurities, placed them in corner of her mind, and shot them all dead.

"I've been assigned to your project by Admiral Marcus." She replied sharply, handing him her commission tablet.

Harrison's gaze went from her face, where they roamed for a moment, testing the extent of her faux confidence, to the tablet, and then back to her unyielding gaze.

"The Admiral does not seem the nepotistic sort." He said, enunciating every syllable _far _ too naturally. "You may be able to contribute to his efforts, but it will not be with me."

Dumbstruck, Carol unwillingly took back the tablet as it was shoved into her arms, protesting, "But I was _ordered_ to assist you."

"Don't lie to me." Said Harrison, arching his head impatiently. "I know why you're here. _Father _needs a better pair of eyes watching me. I'll admit that this is a marked improvement over the last sweaty beast he sent to peer over my shoulder," he mused, indicating her body with an up-and-down wave of his hand. "But I will not allow it again."

He turned to leave, and when she began to follow him, he spun around furiously. Gripping both of her shoulders in what could have been vices instead of hands he drawled, "Find another way to spend your time or the Admiral will know that I sent you way for being incompetent."

"Let me ask one question." She practically sputtered the words as a ball of stress built up in her stomach. "One question, and I'll tell my father whatever _you_ want me to tell him."

Carol felt him analyze her again, his gaze peering straight through her flesh and bone and down into her core. What he saw there was a raw curiosity that drove her to Saturn's rings in the first place.

"Fine." He said with distaste.

"I went over the blueprints for the missile design." She started quickly, fearing he'd change his mind. "It's quite brilliant, but horrendously wasteful. It wasn't directly stated, but it's obvious that the fission core will be wired to eight fuel sources that are given nearly five times as much space in the rocket's core as actually needed." She skirted around him, stepping right up to the unfinished fuselage. "Is there a reason for that? I mean, you could practically fit an entire person in all the extra room."

Carol demonstrated her point by walking into the empty body of the missile, catching only the tail end of an expression of sheer horror that crossed the Commander's face at the mention of the word _person._ She assumed it was because a seasoned Starfleet officer had just made a mistake that a girl fresh from the Academy managed to see. It was a difficult task, but she managed to contain her smile to just a corner of her mouth.

"The propellant is a highly efficient substance that I invented myself," he told her evenly. "And it requires exactly that amount of space to expand safely in its gas phase."

"_Ah,_" Carol replied airily, her mind buzzing with chemical equations. "A high pressure environment might make fuel consumption more constant, I suppose. Excuse a cadet's ignorance, sir." At this point, she would have slipped out of the hollow fuselage and walked as far away from this man as she could. It even crossed her mind to commandeer a vessel and spend the rest of her years hiding from her father's wrath in a closet somewhere in China. But there was something blocking her path.

_Someone_, that is.

Slowly, he reached towards her. From almost anyone else, it would have seemed like an innocuous gesture, but this man – _if he wasn't some kind of half-Vulcan _– was definitely not like anyone else. She sensed he was dangerous, but a part of her knew there was no use intercepting the hand that eventually cupped the side of her head.

"Commander, what are…?" she almost ventured to ask, before a slight tug on her hair made her forget to breathe.

"Why do you wear your hair in such an uncomplimentary fashion?" Harrison's eyes narrowed as he brought his other hand to the back of her head.

"It's… it's comfortable." She informed, attempting to remove the fingertips entwined in her hair. He ignored her completely, removing the band that kept her blonde locks at bay before casting it aside.

Carol felt like an object. Handled without permission, and changed without consent. She blinked up at him, a frozen tempest building up in her azure eyes. But the fury in her heart could not survive against the sadness in his own cold, solemn expression.

"It suits you like this." He said softly, letting the loose strands of golden hair seep through his fingers. When he finally stepped away, Carol inhaled as though the man's presence had created some sort of vacuum. She'd been affected by people before – powerful men and women whose words could almost shatter bone. But Harrison… there was a magnetism around him. A sheer force of will that seemed almost unnatural.

There was silence as she emerged from the fuselage. She didn't stop to salute or even glance at him, but instead walked as fast as possible towards the exit.

"Tomorrow," came Harrison's voice. Carol stopped dead in her tracks, her heart beating fast for reasons that had nothing to do with the pace of her escape. "We shall begin."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Well, this just had to be written. I had no idea going into the theater that Benedict was going to be _The freaking Khan._ He is hands down my favorite villain. Like Ahab and King Lear and darkness all rolled into one man.

If you've seen Space Seed, the plot of this story likely makes more sense to you, but Space Seed is definitely **_not_** necessary to understanding any of what is going to happen. In that episode, Marla McGivers - who I've made Carol's mother in this timeline - becomes Khan's wife. I thought it was tragically romantic for a genocidal maniac to fall for a simple earth historian. If you _have_ seen it and wonder why Carol's hair is blonde instead of red, just remember that Khan was originally Indian (with the tan skin and everything) and not British. I enjoyed both actors a great deal, and was thrilled to see Benedict on the big screen again.

Please review if you have a chance. I also have a tumblr where this will be posted eventually.


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